The King of Show-and-Tell

by ABBY KLEIN illustrated by

JOHN MCKINLEY SCHOLASTIC INC. New York Toronto London Auckland Sydney New Delhi Hong Kong

To Robbie, who, in my mind, will always be the King of Show-and-Tell —Mrs. K. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.” No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, please write to: Permissions Department, Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012. S C H O L A S T I C , T H E B L U E S K Y P R E S S and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. ISBN 13: 978-93-5103-489-6 First Scholastic paperback printing, August 2004 Reprinted by Scholastic Inida Pvt. Ltd.,

June 2018

CHAPTERS

v

1. An Alligator Head 9 2. For the Birds 23 3. Oh No! 31 4. Look What I Found! 35 5. Night Rescue 49 6. Shhh . . . Don’t Tell 58 7. Peep 67 8. The King of Show-and-Tell 75 Freddy’s Fun Pages 89

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I have a problem. A really, really, big problem. I never have anything cool to bring for show-and-tell.

v Let me tell you about it.

CHAPTER 1

v An Alligator Head “OK, everyone, come to the rug. It’s time for show-and-tell,” said Mrs. Wushy. “Today’s sharers are Chloe and Robbie. Who would like to go first?” “I will!” said Robbie, jumping up and running to his cubby to get his treasure. Robbie was like the King of Show-andTell. The kids couldn’t wait to see what he brought because he always had something

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really cool like a porcupine quill or a sixtymillion-year-old dinosaur fossil. Today he had a real alligator head. “This is a real alligator head,” Robbie announced as oohs and ahhs filled the whole room. “So who cares about a dumb old dead animal head?” I mumbled to myself. “You know it’s an alligator head because it has a rounded snout. Alligators have rounded snouts, and crocodiles have pointed ones.” More oohs and ahhs. “Alligators are reptiles, so they are coldblooded, which means they like to live in warm places. This one lived in a swamp in Florida. Questions or comments?” When someone was done sharing, they

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could pick three people in the class to ask a question or make a comment. Whenever Robbie shared, everybody’s hand went up, and the kids all shouted, “Pick me! Pick me!” “He’s not going to call on anyone who’s

yelling out,” said Mrs. Wushy. “He’s only looking for quiet people.” I turned to Jessie and whispered, “Boy, the way people are acting, you’d think they’d never seen an alligator before.” I still didn’t know what was so great about

it. You can see a real, live alligator at the zoo, which is way better than some stupid dead head. “You’re just jealous,” she whispered back. “I think it’s really cool. I wish I had an alligator head like that.” Just then Robbie called on Jessie. “I think it’s really cool. Who gave it to you?” “My mom did.” Robbie looked around. “Chloe.” “My grandma has an alligator purse.” “Ha, ha, ha, she’s like the song ‘The Lady with the Alligator Purse,’” Max said, laughing hysterically. “She is not,” Chloe snapped. “And for your information,” she continued with her hands on her hips, “that purse is very rare. My grandma has traveled all over the

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world, and she got that purse in Brazil. It’s really special because you can’t get one like it anymore.” “Yes,” said Mrs. Wushy. “Many years ago, people used to make belts, shoes, and purses out of alligator skin, and they would kill the alligators just for their skin. The alligators became an endangered